


the sky's a little dark (you color it to life)

by junhuist



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, M/M, Pining, there’s also some fluff, wonwoo and junhui are best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:00:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23259562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junhuist/pseuds/junhuist
Summary: Junhui knows the sun rises from the east, but right now, it's fully awake and at his side, and he doesn't know if being able to touch it without getting burnt is a blessing or a curse.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Wen Jun Hui | Jun
Comments: 13
Kudos: 66





	the sky's a little dark (you color it to life)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to kris for being my beta (and yelling at me through the chat. i think i deserved that)!
> 
> for [elle](https://twitter.com/svtwonwo_o), [yana](https://twitter.com/skzworlddomi), and the wonhui tag that is in an eternal state of drought.

The water is cold when Junhui makes a step to reach the shoreline. His pants are rolled to just above his ankles, and his toes dig their way through the fine grains of sand. Slowly, he moves to take a seat where the water won’t reach him, and a figure quietly drops at his side.

It’s tradition, Wonwoo declares the third time they find themselves at the beach in the early hours of dawn on a Saturday post-exam season. Just the two of them, waiting to watch the sunrise after a grueling week of tedious memorization and essay-composition, capped with coffee-stained fingers and a trash bin filled with instant noodle cups from the nearby convenience store. They reward themselves with a beautiful view of the glow of the morning sun, watching the specks of orange slowly growing in size to become beautiful rays that signify the start of a new day, or whatever poetic bullshit Wonwoo can conjure in his wistful mind.

While Wonwoo says that the sight above is magnificent as is, the mere presence of his best friend that radiates from his side is a better substitute, to which Junhui scoffs and rolls his eyes in disgust.

(But his cheeks tinge red and he allows the ghost of a smile to grow on his lips when Wonwoo has his eyes focused on the cat-shaped cloud rather than at him.)

They sit in silence for a few minutes. Junhui has his head tilted towards the sky, but his gaze slowly shifts to the sparkling eyes that belong to the boy beside him. He knows he’s still conjuring different cloud animations with the way his lips move ever so slightly to assure the figure was, indeed, what he had thought of. The way he smiles after the confirmation doesn’t go unnoticed by Junhui.

(“Shouldn’t we be sky-gazing during the day when there’s _actual_ light to see the figures better?” Junhui had asked on the way to the beach when Wonwoo first proposed the idea during their freshman year.

“Don’t you think that’s cheating?” Wonwoo wondered. “The clouds outline themselves for you during the day. If we look at them when there’s light to show the general figure but not enough to give us a detailed look, then we can guess how it looks like and it’ll be a surprise once the sun’s fully gone up.”

Junhui had rolled his eyes but was amused, nonetheless. “All that for clouds,” he muttered. He received a smack on the arm for that.)

“Staring at me the entire time we’re here defeats the whole purpose of driving thirty minutes to the nearest beach to watch the sunrise, you know.”

Junhui’s lips move before his brain gets the chance to formulate a good response. “You’re way prettier than the view,” he admits.

“Don’t make me blush.” Wonwoo teases. Junhui brushes it off. Like that will ever happen, he thinks to himself.

Wonwoo has never been flustered because of Junhui, if he thinks about it, which is unfair, because Junhui’s always a blushing mess courtesy of him, even after eight years of friendship. His words are always soft with Junhui, just as well with the way he acts around him, and initially, he had assumed that this was because Wonwoo saw him as something fragile. Or something to be greatly taken care of. Maybe this is what blurred his thinking because, after that, every accidental brush with Wonwoo felt like it was actually out of purpose. Maybe this was how he realized he liked him more than just a friend and a roommate, because he had given him so much attention that there was _just no way_ the feelings weren’t mutual.

Sometime after the first ray of sunlight began to reflect on the water, Wonwoo had shifted his head to rest on Junhui’s shoulder, to which his immediate response was to card his fingers through the younger’s hair. It was getting longer than usual, with the jet-black tips kissing his bottom eyelashes. He makes a mental note to remind Wonwoo to make a hair appointment sometime next week, then brings his focus back to his hand.

“This feels nice,” Wonwoo hums in satisfaction. The smile hasn’t left his lips since he had named the cat-cloud from earlier as _Junnie_. Something about the way it reminded him of his feline-like companion, he had mentioned.

Junhui nods a little, a pull at his lips when he notices gentle fingers drawing patterns on the side of his stomach. Even with the thick fabric of his knit sweater, he can feel the warmth that radiates from Wonwoo, and he’s internally grateful for the extra heat amidst the cool air.

“I should bring Minseo here, sometime,” Wonwoo adds after a few beats. “She hates the cold, though. And waking up earlier than she needs to on a weekend.”

“A match made in heaven,” Junhui confirms amusedly, despite the fact that they’d already declared this - these silent Saturday mornings, alone, without the bustle of university life ringing through their ears, just them and the beach and the rising sun - as theirs.

Wonwoo scoffs in response. “Alright, mister early riser. Not everyone has enough energy to wake up every day at 6 with a smile on their face,” Wonwoo scrunches his nose, “you’re a little like Cinderella, I think.”

“I’m only Cinderella because you’re the evil stepmother and sisters combined. Can’t even soak your chopsticks after eating _ramyun_ ,” Junhui mutters the last part, to which he receives another smack. He tries to swat the arm away, but Wonwoo catches his instead and intertwines their fingers together.

Wonwoo hates physical affection. He’d mentioned it in their sophomore year in high school when Junhui had his body sprawled on top of Wonwoo’s. He said it made him feel sticky and gross, having sweat on his skin that didn’t belong to him.

He hadn’t pushed Junhui away throughout the entire two-minute speech about his self-declared germophobia. Junhui made no move to leave, either. He was special, after all.

“Anyway,” Junhui clears his throat, “how did Minseo’s ‘week of hell’ –” he lifts his free hand to show quotation marks, “– play out?”

“As good as it can get, I guess,” Wonwoo replies distractedly, focusing instead on softly padding his thumb across Junhui’s skin. “Besides her sociology report that she got a b-minus on for “failure of understanding the concept,” I’d say she did pretty well.”

“As expected from one of the top 10% of social sciences,” Junhui nods in agreement. He always had a soft spot for Minseo, whether it was in ethics class during the second semester when she accidentally elbowed the side of his head as she tried to move to the side of the room and she couldn’t stop apologizing because of it – even bought Junhui three packs of mochi to make him feel better, or when Wonwoo first introduced her as his girlfriend three months ago. She was beauty and brains, with soft, brown eyes and a softness to her voice whenever she spoke. The combination of which seemed to be Wonwoo’s ideal girl and Junhui was, at least, proud that Minseo liked his best friend equally as much.

“Maybe she can come with us one of these days,” Wonwoo returns to the prior topic. “She definitely won’t mind if she knows you’re going to be with us. She trusts you more than me.” His lips pull down slightly, not out of typical relationship jealousy, but at the thought that she found Junhui more responsible than him.

“I told you, it’s because you don’t know how to wash your own dishes. Or maybe she can’t forget how you almost got lost trying to find the fifth-floor library. That _is_ the Won-Seo origin story, after all.” Wonwoo raises their entwined fingers to poke Junhui’s neck. “Invite her some time. And ask her to make sandwiches with the jam her _eomma_ makes. Those were really good.”

“When she’s not busy trying to get the student body to join council activities,” Wonwoo agrees. Part of the reason why Junhui barely has time to catch up with her is due to the fact that she's part of the university student government. Definitely responsible and unlike Wonwoo. Not so much a match made in heaven, after all.

A comfortable silence passes after that, with only the sound of the waves crashing to the shore and the birds passing through the sky to serve as background music for the tranquil morning.

“You know,” Wonwoo lightly begins, raising his head to glimpse at Junhui, “I was really surprised you two got along so easily.”

 _Me too_ , Junhui thinks, but keeps to himself. “Why is that surprising? Minseo’s literally the nicest girl in uni. Remember all those mochis she gave me when she accidentally hit my head? I’d get into more freak accidents if that meant free dessert every time.” Junhui laughs. “I think it’s more shocking that she liked _you_ back. You haven’t really been a welcoming face around campus.”

Junhui expects another poke to his ribs, or even an actual punch to the gut, but instead, he sees Wonwoo smile, the one where the corners of his lips barely even lift and he thinks he’s just deep in thought, but he looks up and sees his eyes, shining with so much love and adoration Junhui physically _has_ to look away, not that it would hurt any less.

It’s the smile Wonwoo only shows to select people, the one that spreads across his face when he thinks about the people he cares for, the ones special to him. The one Junhui used to be on the receiving end of the most.

It’s the smile that made him fall in love with Wonwoo, too.

He shakes the thought away when Wonwoo lets out an airy laugh. “Crazy, isn’t it?” He muses.

_No, not really. Your face is set like a stone most of the time you walk around campus, but you’re just a lame nerd that reads too much manga and plays video games long into the night until you either remember that you haven’t finished that one case report Professor Choi gave you two weeks ago or look up and everything’s blurry even with your glasses on because your eyes are so strained it’s producing tears to add more moisture._

_You lay around the grass in the middle of union circle in between breaks and sip on three packs of banana milk while looking through more game accessories you can buy online. That, or you find a lap that’s suitable enough to use as a face pillow,_ usually mine _, and sleep away until your next class._

_You glare at every person passing by and they end up looking away so fast they get whiplash, but if they stared a second too long you’d end up getting all awkward and sending them a smile with too much gums while throwing up a peace sign like it’s the fucking 90’s._

_When you see a little cat stuffie you poke it and proudly show it off to whoever’s with you and you say it’s because the whiskers are too long or too curly and that makes it unique, but it’s actually because you’re secretly hoping that they get the memo and give it to you as a gift._

_You like to play rap songs when you’re in charge of the aux cord, but if someone looks close enough they can see the ballad songs that make up your on-repeat playlist._

_Right now, at this exact moment, when we sit beside each other and I end up looking at you instead of up above, you say it defeats the purpose of waiting for the sun to paint the morning sky, but I think the way your eyes glisten like the world has given you more than you deserve is enough to color the entire horizon._

“Yeah, it is.” Junhui laughs along with him.

-

Wonwoo’s favorite plushie, the orange tabby with the yellow stripes, sits in the middle of the backseat of the car, tucked in securely. One of its whiskers - the one that’s an inch longer than the rest - is wedged beneath the seatbelt. “Gotta keep Junnie safe,” he softly mentions when he sees Junhui staring through the rear-view mirror, before reversing away from the parking lot and driving back to campus.

**Author's Note:**

> alternative summary: it was 4 am and ellie thought, 'hey, i should write some angst!'
> 
> this is actually the first prompt (fic?) i've ever finished. also the longest one i've written. overall, i'm glad with how it turned out :D
> 
> thank you for reading! 
> 
> (and come yell at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/junh8o) if you want :D)


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